Winters Past

Mom's friends from her youth
 

I've been scanning my parents' slides over the weekend ... yesterday I went through 530 slides.  Lots of memories swirled through my head making it difficult to sleep last night. 

My early years living in Dundas, Ontario

 

Memories of winters when we were guaranteed snow every single year.  We were very much an outdoors family.  We were encouraged to "get outside" and enjoy the day.   Winter meant just playing in the snow, and a lot of tobogganing!  We weren't a skiing family. 

 

 My dad told me he once went to a ski hill to give it a try ... how difficult could it be?  He got to the top of the hill and went down ... straight down ... he didn't know you were supposed to go back and forth across the hill.  He made it down at top speed, turning more than a few heads on the way.  At the bottom he walked back to the chalet, handed in his skiis and never went again.

 

I still have this little toboggan and use it as a Christmas decoration at my front door  This is my brother and sister.

 

left to right:  My dad, brother, me, sister, sister and Skipper the daschnd

 

Did you ever have a furry winter coat? I don't mean real fur, or even fake fur.  I mean the kind of plush synthetic fabric that stuffed toy animals are made of.  We had them.  It's what you got in the 1960s.  Here is my family with our oh-so-plush winter coats.  Notice how the snow just sticks to them.  It was like wearing a big knitted woolen mitten the way the snow formed a crust on you!!  And there were snowpants to match (not shown ... probably still drying from the previous day's romp in the snow).



Me with my new Christmas skates!!

 

And skating ... outdoors.  How I loved to skate!!  My brother and I would clear these tiny rinks in our field (it conveniently flooded a bit in the fall).  We also skated along the small creek that bordered the field (hence the flooding).  We never went to an arena (you'd have to pay for that, and things were done without money as much as possible).  So we skated very carefully along the creek, always on the look out for a twig frozen into the ice that could trip you up, or a bit of open water that would soak your foot!

 

I still love the outdoors and get outside as much as possible.   My kids have been brought up the same way, although the electronics do lure them away more than I like.  We didn't have that distraction growing up, and being outside was our best entertainment.

 

Thanks for stopping by!!

Wendy